EMD GP18

From such diverse places as the crowded industrial complexes of the North East, to the wide open Texas spaces of the South West come Bison Rail's latest 4-axle acquisition. They recently purchased 8 GP18's, three from the New York, Susquehanna & Western Railroad and five that were originally with the Texas & Pacific.

The NYS&W units (1802, 1804 & 1806) were delivered by GM-EMD in September 1962 on Order #5642. Except for the 1800, which was involved in an accident in Nov 2001, these units have soldiered on for 40+ years without any major problems. The 3 units were delivered to NERR at Jersey City, NJ on the 2nd of June where the old lettering was removed and Bison Rail reporting marks added for the trip to their shops in Chicago. They then worked their way West (earning revenue for NERR) where they were placed in the shops for mechanical & electrical upgrading to the latest standards. Two weeks later they were in the paint shop in Oelwein getting a coat of Black & White Imron and being renumbered 180-182.

 The other five units were acquired a little closer to home, coming from the Missouri Pacific and were originally Texas & Pacific units. They were delivered to the T&P in May of 1960 on Order #5619 and were numbered 1145 thru 1149. When the T&P was absorbed into the MP they were renumbered 500 through 504. These units went through the same procedure as the Susie-Q units, They were numbered into the 180-series following the first three units.

As the GP18's have always been reliable, this acquisition will form a good backbone of 4-axle units for local and switching duties, with possibly a little main-line running as well. As with all NERR/BR power, these units are subject to show up anywhere on the system at any time.

Specific's of these units are as follows:

The GP18 was the third in the series of General Purpose (GP) locomotives and was produced from December of 1959 until November of 1962. It was essentially an upgraded GP7/GP9. GP18's and GP28's were very similar internally, howver the GP18 was housed in a GP7/9-type body while the GP28 was in a GP35-type body. It was the first GM-EMD model offered with a low front hood. The main external difference between a GP18 and a GP7/9 in the covering over the radiator shutters. The GP18 had a metal grid over the shutters, whereas the earlier types had the "chicken wire" covering. There were 405 GP18's produced, 350 for domestic use, 40 for Mexico, and 15 export units going to Brazil, Peru & Saudi Arabia. 201 of these were built with high noses and 204 with low noses, while 131 had dynamic braking and 274 did not. The only minor change that was made during production of the GP18 was a change in the shape of the roof-top exhaust fans. Following are some specs on the GP18:

A description of the 567 prime mover can be found at (sdrm.org/roster/diesel/emd/index).

The New York, Susquehanna & Western Railway, which has headquarters in Cooperstown, NY., operate 444 miles of track from Jersey City, NJ to Utica & Syracuse, NY. The original line was built by the New Jersey Midland in the 1870's. It has been through two bankruptcies before being taken over by the Delaware Otsego system. Despite mergers and mega-mergers all around it, it has remained a viable system due to aggressive management. The NYS&W home page can be found at (trainmaster.mervernation.com/newnysw).

The Texas & Pacific was formed when Congress granted a charter to the Texas Pacific Railroad Company on 3 March 1871. They were one of only a handful of railroads to operate under a federal charter and the only one in Texas In 1881 they owned 1,034 miles of main line track in Texas. Crude oil made up 22% of their freight revenue in 1928. In 1931 the T&P owned 365 locomotives, 236 passenger cars and 9,816 freight cars. By 1974 trackage had increased to 1,982 miles in Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma & Arkansas. It was merged into the Missouri Pacific on 15 October 1976. A real good history of the T&P can be found at (trainweb.org/texasandpacific) or (www.mo-pac.com/history-t&p).
 

Drawing by Roland Ruesch (usloki.tripod.com)